ASHLAND — Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley wants to “slow the process down” on deciding the future management of the REACH Ashland Youth Center, saying more input is needed from the young people it serves.

Miley announced the cautious approach Tuesday in a public letter, the same day that a community meeting was held at Eden United Church of Christ in unincorporated Hayward over the direction of the center at 16335 E. 14th St.

“I have learned a lot from people who have been sharing their thoughts, ideas and stories with me and I continue to reshape my views as I listen,” said Miley, who initially announced the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office would take over running the center as of July from the county’s Health Care Services Agency.

The health care agency will continue to be lead operator of the center until a decision is made over its future, Miley said.

The sheriff’s office already runs programs at the youth center, including some in cooperation with the Hayward Area Recreation and Parks District.

In the letter, Miley said he anticipates the sheriff’s office will have “a more robust role” at the center, noting that it “saw the need for an Ashland youth center before anyone else and were part of its creation from the beginning.”

Trustees with the Alameda County Board of Education are set to take up the management of the center at 6:30 p.m. May 8, when they meet at 313 W. Winton Ave. in Hayward.

San Lorenzo Unified School District trustees are tentatively scheduled to consider the issue at 7 p.m. May 15, when they meet at 15510 Usher St. in San Lorenzo.

Miley said he wants to have meetings over the next few weeks regarding the center’s future with its staff and participants, as well as with young people incarcerated in Juvenile Hall.

“I am relieved that Supervisor Miley decided to slow down the lead operator decision-making process,” the Rev. Arlene K. Nehring, senior minister of Eden United Church of Christ, which helped launch the center, said Thursday. “I agree that we need to do what is best for our young people.”

But Nehring also offered some criticism in the wake of the supervisor’s letter.

“This process should have started months ago with gathering input from young people,” she said. “Sadly, in the plan that the supervisor distributed on April 10, youth are listed last.”

The center mostly serves African-American, Asian and Latino teenagers, populations that sometimes are distrustful when interacting with law enforcement.

The facility opened in April 2013 and offers arts, athletic and education programs, as well as homework and job help, a health clinic and an early childhood development center.

It’s free to anyone ages 11 through 24 who lives in Alameda County. Most who visit come from Ashland, Cherryland and San Lorenzo, unincorporated areas with large populations of low-income residents and minorities.

Miley contacted the sheriff’s office in November last year about taking over running the center, pointing to the success of its recreation, leadership and fitness programs that are already happening at the facility, according to Marty Neideffer, a captain with the sheriff’s office.

Those programs include a soccer league created by the Deputy Sheriffs’ Activities League that attracted 1,800 children last year and a boxing program that serves about 135 people each week.

The league leads the center’s recreation program, which also includes classes in dance, martial arts, weight training and basketball.

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